Georgetown Security Law Brief

Oklahoma tornado: Insurance bill 'could top $2bn'

05/23/13:  The BBC reports the damage from the Oklahoma tornado could reach $2bn (£1.3bn), the Oklahoma Insurance Department warns, although many renters may have no insurance cover. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said the damage could be worse than that caused by the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. That event killed 161 people and led to at least $2bn in insured losses. In Oklahoma, 2,705 claims have been filed so far but are likely to rise. The tornado in Moore, Oklahoma was 17 miles (27km) long and 1.3 miles wide and has left at least 24 people dead. There are also concerns that many tenants, particularly those living in apartment complexes, may not have insurance policies. Although 98% of US homeowners have home insurance, only about 70% of those who rent have insurance.

China's bird flu outbreak under control, cost $6.5 billion

05/22/13:  Reuters reports the H7N9 virus appears to have been brought under control in China largely due to restrictions at bird markets, but caused some $6.5 billion in losses to the economy, UN experts said on Tuesday. Health authorities worldwide must be on the lookout to detect the virus, the experts said, which could still develop the ability to spread easily among humans and cause a deadly influenza pandemic. The new bird flu virus is known to have infected 130 people in mainland China since emerging in March, including 36 who died, but no cases have been detected since early May, Health Minister Li Bin told a meeting of the World Health Organization. One case was found in Taiwan in April, making a total of 131. Li said local Chinese authorities had shut down live poultry markets "temporarily or permanently as needed" to control the source of outbreaks in 10 provinces. It standardized methods of transporting poultry to reduce spread among birds. China's government had spent 600 million RMB or $97 million to support healthy development of the poultry industry, Li said. H7N9 is highly pathogenic in humans, causing severe respiratory disease, but is not virulent among birds, making it nearly impossible for farmers to detect, experts said.

Oklahoma tornado spread destruction like a 'two-mile-wide lawnmower blade'

05/21/13:  CNN reports amid downed power lines, hissing gas pipes and immense devastation, rescuers searched "board by board" Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the Oklahoma City suburbs. It was a daunting task. The Monday afternoon storm carved a trail through the area as much as two miles wide and 22 miles long, officials said. Hardest hit was Moore, Oklahoma -- a suburban town of 40,000 and the site of eerily similar twisters in 1999 and again four years later. The state medical examiner's office said 24 people were confirmed dead, including nine children. Earlier reports of at least 51 deaths were erroneous, said Amy Elliot, chief administrative officer for the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. At least 100 people have been pulled alive from the rubble by rescuers. Terri Watkins, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman, who described Tuesday's search as "board by board," said it was far too soon to account for the devastation of the storm. The scene -- block after block of flattened homes and businesses, the gutted remains of a hospital and hits on two elementary schools -- left even seasoned veterans of Oklahoma's infamous tornadoes reeling. Police, firefighters, National Guard troops and volunteers joined forces Tuesday in searching the rubble. Texas sent an elite 80-member urban search team as well, and the American Red Cross sent 25 emergency response vehicles. So many people were showing up to volunteer that authorities had to plead with would-be rescuers to stay away.

Saudi Arabia Sars-like virus 'kills five'

05/02/13:  The BBC reports five people in Saudi Arabia have died from a Sars-like virus and two more are seriously ill, officials say. The seven cases were all from al-Ahsa governorate in the east of the country, the Saudi news agency SPA said citing health officials. The novel coronavirus (NCoV) causes pneumonia and sometimes kidney failure. It is from the same family of viruses as the one that caused an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) that emerged in Asia in 2003. In the statement released by SPA, the Saudi health ministry said it was taking "all precautionary measures for persons who have been in contact with the infected people... and has taken samples from them to examine if they are infected". However, the ministry gave no details on how many people had been tested for the disease. A spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) told the BBC it had received formal notification from Saudi Arabia about the latest cases and would be issuing more details later on Thursday.

Sensitive Army database of US dams compromised

05/02/13:  The Washington Times reports US intelligence agencies traced a recent cyber intrusion into a sensitive infrastructure database to the Chinese government or military cyber warriors, according to US officials. The compromise of the US Army Corps of Engineers' National Inventory of Dams (NID) is raising new concerns that China is preparing to conduct a future cyber attack against the national electrical power grid, including the growing percentage of electricity produced by hydroelectric dams. The database contains sensitive information on vulnerabilities of every major dam in the United States. There are around 8,100 major dams across waterways in the United States. The database categorizes US dams by the number of people that would be killed if a dam fails. They include “significant” and “high” hazard levels. Michelle Van Cleave, the former National Counterintelligence Executive, a senior counterintelligence policymaker, said the database compromise highlights the danger posed by hackers who are targeting critical U.S. infrastructure for future attacks.

As Bird Flu spreads to Taiwan, governments act to prepare

04/25/13:  The New York Times reports the new strain of avian influenza that has infected more than 100 people in China in the last two months has, for the first time, been reported outside mainland China. Officials in Taiwan reported one case in a 53-year-old Taiwanese citizen who traveled regularly to the Chinese city of Suzhou for work, where he probably contracted the virus. He fell ill on April 12, three days after returning to Taiwan. Tests revealed on Wednesday that he was infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus. As of Tuesday, Chinese officials had reported 108 cases and 22 deaths from the new flu. The case has set off alarms in Taiwan, where the Central Epidemic Command Center says that it has “continued to strengthen surveillance and fever screening of travelers arriving from China.” The patient in Taiwan, described as severely ill, is being treated in a special isolation room, and 139 people who had contact with him — including 110 health workers — are being watched for symptoms. So far, there is no evidence that any have contracted the disease, which has not been found to spread from person to person. Officials elsewhere in the region are increasingly jittery about the spread of the virus from China. On Wednesday, Japan said it was racing to make changes that would essentially allow local governments to consign bird flu patients or suspected patients to hospitals, and order them to stay away from their workplaces. The Japanese government took similar precautions during epidemics of the H5N1 and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, viruses in the last decade.

World experts to help China with bird flu investigation

04/16/13: Reuters reports an international team of flu experts will go to China this week to help with investigations into the deadly H7N9 virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The new strain of avian flu has killed 14 among 63 people known to have been infected, but no human-to-human spread of the virus has been confirmed. The team includes four specialists in areas such as emerging viruses, human-to-animal flu viruses and epidemiology, as well as an unspecified number of WHO staff, Thomas said. Another WHO spokesman, Gregory Hartl, said it would be made up of eight people in all. One of the points the mission wants to investigate is how some people seem to fight off the infection. China confirmed on Saturday a seven-year-old child had been infected by the virus in the capital Beijing, the first case outside the Yangtze river delta region in eastern China where the new strain emerged last month. No exact date has been set yet for the arrival of the team which is expected to hold talks in Beijing and visit affected provinces, he said. The mission - made up of American, European, Australian and Chinese experts - will get underway by Saturday and is expected to carry out a week-long study, Thomas said. In a statement issued late on Monday, the WHO said more than 1,000 close contacts of the people confirmed as having H7N9 were being closely monitored for symptoms. "So far, there is no evidence of ongoing human-to-human transmission," it said.

Powerful earthquake strikes in Iran

04/16/13:  The New York Times reports a powerful earthquake that struck southeastern Iran was felt in several countries in Asia on Tuesday, rocking buildings in the Indian capital of New Delhi, sending panicked resident of Karachi, Pakistan, fleeing into the streets and causing tremors through Persian Gulf states. Iranian officials said they expected many deaths. The earthquake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was near Khash, Iran, not far from Iran’s border with Pakistan, the United States Geological Survey said. An Iranian official told state television that he expected hundreds of deaths because of the severity of the earthquake. The worst-hit area, along Iran’s southeastern border, is home to nearly 2 million people, who live in three main cities, Zahaedan, the provincial center, and the epicenter of the earthquake between the cities of Saravan and Khash, where roughly 400,000 people live, the semiofficial Tabnak Web site reported. The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Iran’s seismology center as saying the earthquake was the worst in 40 years. The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake had a depth of 9.7 miles. Such deep earthquakes are rare and have greater destructive capability.

Avian Flu virus confirmed in Beijing for first time

04/13/13:  The New York Times reports the bird flu virus that has been centered in the city of Shanghai and surrounding provinces has now been reported elsewhere in China, as a 7-year-old girl was being treated on Saturday in a Beijing hospital for avian influenza. The virus has already killed 11 people in China, with 7 of those deaths reported in Shanghai, and the rest coming from three surrounding provinces. The Beijing case involved a girl whose parents were in the poultry trade, according to the Beijing Health Bureau. She entered the hospital on Thursday and tests confirmed on Saturday that she had the H7N9 virus. The bureau said that she was in stable condition at the hospital, and that there were no indications that people she had come in contact with had the virus.

Fukushima nuclear plant: radioactive water 'leak'

04/09/13:  The BBC reports a fresh suspected leak of radioactive water has been detected at Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says. The contaminated water may have leaked into the ground from one of the plant's storage tanks, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said. The nuclear plant has suffered two power failures in the past month. Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it would visit the plant to conduct a review. If confirmed, the leak at the underground storage pool would be the third leak discovered at the plant since Saturday. The underground tanks store radioactive water that have been used in the plant's cooling systems.

China steps up bird flu precautions

04/06/13:  The BBC reports China is stepping up its efforts to contain the spread of a new strain of bird flu which has killed six people in the country. The authorities in Shanghai, where four deaths were recorded, have closed three poultry markets and banned the import of all live birds into the city. China has now identified 16 domestic cases of the H7N9 virus. The World Health Organization says there is no evidence yet that the virus is being transmitted between humans. The human cases of H7N9 have all occurred in eastern China, in Shanghai and its neighbouring provinces of Anhui and Zhejiang. The latest death was a 64-year-old man who died in Zhejiang, the second death there, state media report. There was no sign of infection in anyone who had had close contact with him, said officials. On Thursday, officials began the slaughter of at least 20,000 birds in Shanghai after the virus was detected in pigeons sold in Huhuai market. The trading of live birds - how poultry is traditionally sold in China - has also been halted at a market in the Zhejiang city of Hangzhou, after the virus was detected in quail being sold there.

Radioactive water leak feared at Japan nuke plant

04/06/13:  The Miami Herald reports the operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant said Saturday that it was moving tons of highly radioactive water from a temporary storage tank to another after detecting signs of leakage, in a blow to the plant's struggles with tight storage space. Tokyo Electric power Co. said about 120 tons of the water are believed to have breached the tank's inner linings, some of it possibly leaking into the soil. TEPCO is moving the water to a nearby tank at the Fukushima Dai-chi plant - a process that could take several days. TEPCO detected the leak earlier in the week, when radiation levels spiked in water samples collected in between the inner linings of the tank. Radiation levels in water samples taken outside the tank also have increased, an indication of the water leak, TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono said. Contaminated water at the plant, which went into multiple meltdowns after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan, has escaped into the sea several times during the crisis. Experts suspect there has been a continuous leak into the ocean through an underground water system, citing high levels of contamination among fish caught in waters just off the plant.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/06/3326696/radioactive-water-leak-feared.html#storylink=cpy

CDC begins work on vaccine for China flu

04/05/13:  The New York Times reports federal health officials have begun to make a seed vaccine against the mysterious new H7N9 flu circulating in China, they said Thursday. While it is being made “only as a precaution,” a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized, an agency virologist said the agency was “fairly worried” about the new virus. China reported that it had confirmed 14 cases of the new flu, and on Friday it reported that six cases were fatal. No cases of human-to-human transmission have been confirmed, even though China’s disease control agency has traced hundreds of people who had contact with the 14 known cases, the news agency Xinhua reported. The flu, previously found only in wild birds, was isolated for the first time in domesticated birds on Thursday; after it was found in pigeons in a Shanghai live bird market, the authorities began culling every bird there. It will take at least a month to create the seed vaccine, even though the agency is speeding the process by building it from synthetic DNA rather than waiting for a virus sample to arrive from China, said Michael Shaw, associate laboratory director for the CDC’s influenza division.

China mobilizes to fight new bird flu

04/04/13:  Reuters reports China said it was mobilizing resources nationwide to combat a new strain of deadly bird flu that has killed four people, as Japan and Hong Kong stepped up vigilance against the virus and Vietnam banned imports of Chinese poultry. The H7N9 bird flu strain does not appear to be transmitted from human to human but authorities in Hong Kong raised a preliminary alert and said they were taking precautions at the airport. In Japan, airports have put up posters at entry points warning all passengers from China to seek medical attention if they suspect they have bird flu. A total of 11 people in China have been confirmed to have contracted H7N9, all in the east of the country. Another person died on Thursday, in Shanghai, bringing the number of deaths to four, state media said. Xinhua news agency said the victim was a 48-year-old man who worked delivering poultry.

Blackout halts cooling system at Fukushima plant

03/19/13: The New York Times reports two pools for storing spent nuclear fuel remained without vital cooling systems more than 24 hours after a partial power failure at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan on Tuesday, the operator said. The company said it had restored the flow of cooling water to two other pools also affected by the blackout. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said temperatures in the two uncooled pools still remain well within safe levels. It said its engineers were trying to repair a faulty switchboard that it blamed for the outage that began on Monday night, halting pumps that inject cooling water into the four pools located near the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. All three of those reactor buildings, which also house the pools, were damaged by hydrogen explosions caused by the triple meltdown at the plant two years ago, after a huge earthquake and tsunami destroyed reactor cooling systems. The company, known as Tepco, said the current loss of cooling water was manageable because temperatures would remain at safe levels for at least four days, and the plant also has backup systems.

 

North Korea nullifies armistice as South Korea, US proceed with joint military exercise

03/11/13: The Washington Times reports North Korea has canceled its 60-year-old armistice with South Korea as war games with South Korea and the US began on Monday.  An estimated 10,000 South Korean soldiers and 3,000 American troops kicked off a joint 11-day drill.  Troops from the South are on high alert as Pyongyang responded to the joint exercise with fresh vows to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.  Twice on Monday, the North ignored calls from the South to its hotline.  This is the highest tensions have hit between the two nations since the North fired artillery shells at a South Korean island nearly three years ago.  The North has purported to nullify the armistice before, however.

Nuclear waste seeping from six containers in Washington State

02/23/13:  NPR reports the number of underground containers seeping nuclear waste has increased to six from one at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, Wash. Gov. Jay Inslee said he received the news during a meeting with Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu. Inslee called the news "disturbing." "News of six leaking tanks at Hanford raises serious questions about [the] integrity of all single tanks," Inslee said on Twitter. "But there are no immediate health risks."  As reported last week, the Department of Energy said one single-shell tank was losing between 150 to 300 gallons of radioactive waste each year.

Meteorite fragments rain down on Siberia; hundreds of injuries reported

02/15/13:  The New York Times reports bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, streaked through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across a vast territory. Russia’s Interior Ministry said more than 1,000 people were hurt, 200 of them children, mostly from shards of glass that shattered when the meteor entered the atmosphere.  Many of the injuries were suffered by residents of the city of Chelyabinsk, about 950 miles east of Moscow, in a region where many factories for defense, including nuclear weapons production, are situated. But there was no indication of damage that resulted in any radiation leaks, officials said.  Russian experts believe the blast was caused by a 10-ton meteor known as a bolide, which created a powerful shock wave when it reached the Earth’s atmosphere, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement. Scientists believe the bolide exploded and evaporated at a height of around 20 to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface, but that small meteorite fragments may have reached the ground, the statement said.

US simulates mass-migration scenario at Guantanamo

02/11/13: The Miami Herald reports soldiers, sailors and Homeland Security officials came to Guantánamo Bay this weekend to simulate a humanitarian-relief crisis inspired by the tens of thousands of Haitians and Cubans who overwhelmed the base in the 1990’s.  The exact nature of the scenario is classified, and only Pentagon-approved photos of the exercise will be released.  That’s because nobody wants news about it to touch off a real, live Caribbean exodus.  The intent, say organizers, is not to encourage anyone in the Caribbean to get on rafts to reach this Navy base in southeast Cuba, but to be ready in case it happens.  One thing they’ll rehearse is registering 1,000 migrants in a single day, and if history is any guide, the actors should cram inside the processing tent, desperate, undocumented and disorganized.

Snow storm snips power for more than 664,000

02/09/13:  The Miami Herald reports the massive snowstorm sweeping across the Northeast has left at least 664,000 homes and businesses without electricity from Maine to Pennsylvania. Officials say wet, heavy snow and high winds snapped power lines in eight states.  Massachusetts has been hardest hit, with more than 400,000 utility customers without power Saturday morning. Snow totals ranging from 17 to 28 inches have been reported across the state. Fire officials in Quincy say power is out in most of the city. More than 38 inches of snow and 82-mph wind gust have been reported in central Connecticut. The power outages also are in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. 

Obama Administration concludes President has broad cyberwarfare powers

02/04/13: The New York Times reports a secret legal review on the use of America’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons has concluded that President Obama has the broad power to order a preemptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad.  That decision was among several reached in recent months as the administration moves, in the next few weeks, to approve the nation’s first rules for how the military can defend, or retaliate, against a major cyberattack.  The rules will be highly classified, like those governing drone strikes.  John Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser and his nominee to run the Central Intelligence Agency, played a central role in developing the administration’s policies regarding both drones and cyberwarfare, the two newest and most politically sensitive weapons in the American arsenal.

Pentagon to expand cybersecurity force

01/28/13: The New York Times reports the Pentagon is moving toward a major expansion of its cybersecurity force to counter increasing attacks on the nation’s computer networks, as well as to expand offensive computer operations on foreign adversaries.  The expansion announced by defense officials Sunday would increase DOD’s Cyber Command by more than 4,000 people, up from the current 900.  As part of the expansion, officials said the Pentagon was planning three different forces under Cyber Command: “national mission forces” to protect computer systems that support the nation’s power grid and critical infrastructure; “combat mission forces” to plan and execute attacks on adversaries; and “cyber protection forces” to secure the Pentagon’s computer systems.  In October outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in dire terms that the United States was increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Research to resume on modified, deadlier Bird Flu

01/24/13:  The New York Times reports experiments with a deadly flu virus, suspended last year after a fierce global debate over safety, will start up again in some laboratories, probably within the next few weeks, scientists say.  The research touched off a firestorm in 2011 when it became known that two groups, one in the Netherlands and another in the US, had genetically altered a dangerous bird flu virus to make it more contagious in mammals. Some scientists warned that a deadly pandemic could break out if the mutant virus leaked out of the lab accidentally or if terrorists stole it or made it themselves, using articles in scientific journals for the recipe.  The outcry led scientists conducting the experiments to declare a voluntary moratorium a year ago, in part to let research organizations and governments decide what safety rules to require.  A letter from 40 scientists — the same ones who called the moratorium last year — was published on Wednesday in the journals Science and Nature, saying it is time for the work to begin again in countries ready to allow it.

US flu cases over epidemic threshold

01/12/13: The BBC reports influenza has reached epidemic proportions in the US, say health officials, but the outbreak may be showing signs of having peaked.  Last week 7.3% of US deaths were caused by pneumonia and the flu, just above epidemic threshold, said the CDC. Flu activity was widespread in 47 states, up from 41 the week before.  But the worst of the flu cases could be past as the number of hardest-hit states dropped to 24 from 29.

Japan's cleanup after nuclear accident is denounced

01/09/13:  The New York Times reports the decontamination crews at a deserted elementary school here are at the forefront of what Japan says is the most ambitious radiological cleanup the world has seen, one that promised to draw on cutting-edge technology from across the globe. More than a year and a half since the nuclear crisis, much of Japan’s post-Fukushima cleanup remains primitive, slapdash and bereft of the cleanup methods lauded by government scientists as effective in removing harmful radioactive cesium from the environment. Local businesses that responded to a government call to research and develop decontamination methods have found themselves largely left out. American and other foreign companies with proven expertise in environmental remediation, invited to Japan in June to show off their technologies, have similarly found little scope to participate.

Communications link for all first responders remains a challenge

12/07/12:  The New York Times reports during Hurricane Sandy, New York police commanders could talk by radio with fire department supervisors across the city, to officials battling power failures in nearby counties and with authorities shutting down airports in New York and New Jersey. As routine as that sounds, it represented great strides in emergency communications. The recent positive developments still do not fulfill the post-Sept. 11 plans for a nationwide communications system for first responders.  Congress took years to set aside a special section of airwaves to accommodate a new emergency system, but it allocated only $2 billion for initial work. Communications experts say the system will require up to $10 billion more.

Israel's "Iron Dome" intercepts two rockets over Tel Aviv

11/19/12: The blog Space War reports Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile system Sunday shot down two rockets over Tel Aviv as sirens wailed across the city, the fourth such interception in one day. “Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, and the Iron Dome shot down two rockets,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. “There were no reports of injuries or damage on ground level in Tel Aviv or [the surrounding region of] Gush Dan.” Sunday was the fourth straight day sirens sounded across Tel Aviv. Earlier in the day, Israeli police confirmed Iron Dome intercepted two rockets over the city.

Military to deliver fuel to storm-ravaged region

11/03/12:  The New York Times reports as long lines persisted at gas stations in the New York metropolitan area, federal authorities moved on Friday to restore supplies, instructing the Defense Department to send 24 million gallons of fuel to the region and lifting restrictions on deliveries by foreign-flagged ships. With the reopening of the Port of New York to tankers on Thursday, and the return of a critical Northeast fuel pipeline to full capacity on Friday, the biggest outstanding problems are the lack of power at hundreds of gas stations and continued panic buying by the public, industry officials said.

FEMA wins praise for Sandy response

11/02/12:  CNN reports seven years after a disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is winning praise for how it's dealing with Superstorm Sandy.  "This is the all-new FEMA, and the leadership is very, very good, very focused," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, a pediatrician and director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "They're doing an excellent job."  Score one for FEMA's attempts to come back from its infamous failure after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005.  But the post-Sandy reviews for FEMA aren't all moonlight and roses.

UN Security Council relocates due to storm damage: envoys

11/01/12:  Reuters reports the UN Security Council was forced to relocate on Wednesday for a meeting on Somalia and other issues because of extensive water damage to parts of the United Nations complex from the storm Sandy, UN officials and diplomats said. It was not immediately clear how badly the UN buildings were damaged by the storm. The UN press office sent a statement to reporters announcing that the UN headquarters would reopen Thursday after a three-day closure and outlining which areas would be accessible.

Hurricane Sandy chance at redemption for FEMA

10/30/12:  The New York Times reports as Hurricane Sandy approached landfall Monday, FEMA officials here were struggling with the question of how to deploy resources in the face of a powerful, far-reaching storm that was bearing down on a string of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Based on forecasts and calculations, the officials decided to focus their resources on the southern part of New Jersey, where they had hundreds of thousands of ready-to-eat meals and bottles of water and hundreds of staff members prepared to respond.

Italy disaster experts quit over quake trial

10/25/12:  PhysOrg reports four top Italian disaster experts quit their posts Tuesday, saying the manslaughter convictions of former colleagues for failing to adequately warn of a deadly 2009 earthquake means they can't effectively perform their duties.  Prosecutors alleged the defendants—who included some of Italy's most internationally respected quake experts—didn't properly inform town residents of the risk of a big quake following weeks of small tremors. But scientists have ridiculed the case, saying earthquakes cannot be predicted. The convictions are expected to be appealed.

Weekly Tech Updates

09/29/12:  Here are some of the latest technology updates from this week related to national security.

• Rapid Mapping of Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Spread in Urban Environments to Aid First Responders
• Navy Working to Generate Jet Fuel from Seawater
• Automatic Building Mapping for Emergency Responders
• Electronics that Fight Infection and Dissolve Away
• DARPA Innovation House to Research Imagery and Sensor Innovations
• Research into using Particle Accelerators to make Spent Nuclear Fuel Safer
• Mapping of Cybercriminal Networks
• Plant Extract may one-day Safeguard People from Nerve Gas Attacks
• Uranium Enrichment Plant Approved using Laser Technology instead of Centrifuges
• DISA seeking to expand Cyber Threat Information Network to Large Numbers of Defense Contractors
• Potential Green Aerospace Anti-Corrosion Agent from Dates
• Research into Internet Resilience
• Laser Sintering may provide Significant Weight Reductions in Aircraft Fabrication
• M13 Virus opens Door for Research into a Biological Internet
• Intuitive Visual Controls make Remote Operation of Robots Faster
• Air Force’s Secret Space Plane Prepped for New Launch

Weekly Tech Updates

09/22/12:  Welcome to the first weekly tech updates post.  This will list some of the weeks updates in technology news that may have some impact on national security.

• New "Rapid DNA" devices are now ready to be evaluated and the FBI has received two basic types.
• Microfabrication methods to help navigate a day without GPS.
• Military invests in tool for worm-proofing warfighter apps.
• Tracking people based on their 'gait signature'.
• Cyber security 'space travel' technique allows a computer to virtually monitor another for intrusions and viruses.
• Iran preparing internal version of the internet.
• Researchers develop fast, sensitive nanophotonic motion sensor developed for silicon microdevices.
• DARPA awards contracts for gigabit-speed mobile hot spots.
• Large drone submarines for testing undersea sensors.
• Naval Sea Systems Command approved new non-destructive testing inspection requirements for pipe welds that will save millions in maintenance costs.
• One petabit per second fiber transmission over 50 km.
• Researchers devise new 'subtractive' type of nanoscale printing - cheaper and more efficient.
• Silicon and erbium on one chip for the first time - rapid amplification of light.

DHS authorized to take control of telecommunications systems in emergency

07/13/12: The Washington Times reports the Obama Administration has given the Department of Homeland Security powers to prioritize government communications over privately owned telephone and Internet systems in emergencies.  An executive order signed June 6 “gives DHS the authority to seize control of telecommunications facilities, including telephone, cellular and wireless networks, in order to prioritize government communications over private ones in an emergency,” said Amie Stephanovich, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).  The White House says Executive Order 13618, published Wednesday in the Federal Register, is designed to ensure that the government can communicate during major disasters and other emergencies and contains no new authority.

Postal Service to run emergency medication-delivery bioterrorism response drill

07/12/12: The Washington Post reports the US Postal Service will perform a dry-run this summer of a program designed to quickly respond to a biological attack on the United States.  With a $10 million budget approved by Congress, the postal service is teaming up with the Department of Health and Human Services, state and local health officials, and law enforcement agencies to devise a program that would deliver doses of antibiotics to thousands of households in each city within hours of an attack.  The tests follow an executive order President Obama issued three years ago to create a model where postal workers would deliver medication during a biological emergency.  The aim is to keep people from panicking as they head to medicine distribution centers and to reduce lines.  Letter carriers will be accompanied by police.

The biological defense program that cries wolf

07/10/12: The LA Times reports that the Department of Homeland Security’s BioWatch air samplers, meant to detect a terrorist biological attack, have been plagued by false alarms and other failures.  President George W. Bush announced the system's deployment in his 2003 State of the Union address, saying it would “protect our people and our homeland.”  Since then, BioWatch air samplers have been installed inconspicuously at street level and atop buildings in cities across the country – ready, in theory, to detect pathogens that cause anthrax, tularemia, smallpox, plague and other deadly diseases.  But the system has not lived up to its billing.  It has repeatedly cried wolf, producing dozens of false alarms nationwide.  Worse, it can’t be counted on to detect a real attack.

US worries payback could follow cyberattack

06/29/12: The Washington Times reports the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is warning that recent news reports describing a US role in a cyberattack against Iran’s nuclear program will cost the United States dearly.  The reports, which said the US and Israel were behind the Stuxnet cyberworm that sabotaged Iran’s uranium processing plants in 2009, started “a very dangerous speculation game that we are all going to pay the price for,” said Representative Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)  His comments underline growing concern among some US security officials and private-sector specialists about blowback from the Stuxnet attack itself, like retaliation from Iran, or the proliferation of cyberattacks against the kind of computer-controlled machinery for operations such as factories and city water systems.

US, allies accelerating plans to secure chemical arsenal as Syrian crisis worsens

05/20/12: The Washington Post reports the Obama Administration is accelerating its planning with Middle Eastern allies for a series of potentially fast-moving crises in Syria in the coming months, including the possible loss of government control over some of the country’s scattered stocks of chemical weapons.  The planning, involving intelligence and military officials from at least seven countries, includes detailed arrangements for securing chemical arms with special operations troops in the event that parts of Syria are seized by militants, US and Middle Eastern security officials said. Western and regional intelligence officials are increasingly concerned that Islamic extremists could attempt to seize control of whole towns and districts if the country slides into full-scale civil war.

FEMA releases National Preparedness Report

05/05/12: The beSpacific blog reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its partners have released the 2012 National Preparedness Report identifying significant progress the nation has made in areas of prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. These mission areas organize the 31 core capabilities needed to achieve the National Preparedness Goal. Overall the Report found that the nation has increased its collective preparedness, not only from external threats, but also for natural and technological hazards.

No specific credible threats ahead of bin Laden anniversary

05/01/12: CNN reports that authorities have "no indication of any specific, credible threats or plots" against the United States as a result of the one-year anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said. "DHS understands that threats to our security continue to evolve. Although al Qaeda, its affiliates and allies have expressed continued interest to carry out attacks against Western interests, we have no indication of any specific, credible threats or plots against the US tied to the one year anniversary of bin Laden's death," the spokesman said in a statement.

Event: Conversation with former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley

04/24/12: The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute is hosting an event Thursday featuring Kip Hawley, former Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and author of Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security. At the event, Hawley will discuss risk-based, intelligence-driven counterterrorism efforts, and will highlight the layered security approach and advances of TSA technology over the last decade.

Missile agency buys, makes unready technology

04/24/12: The Washington Times reports the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is producing and buying technology before it is fully ready, crippling its efforts to develop a system that can intercept ballistic warheads from Iran or other rogue states, according to federal auditors. A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says problems and test failures last year with the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, the Aegis sea-borne missile and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense were due to this strategy.

Court proceedings begin in Cyprus fatal blast

04/23/12: The Miami Herald reports that Court proceedings have begun in Cyprus into last year's explosion of confiscated Iranian gunpowder that killed thirteen people and triggered a political crisis. Eight people, including ex-Foreign Affairs Minister Markos Kyprianou and ex-Defense Minister Costas Papacostas, face charges of manslaughter and negligence causing death. Both men resigned in the wake of the July 11 blast that severely damaged the island's largest power station and touched off weeks of street protests. The two men appeared in a Larnaca courtroom on Monday alongside all the co-accused except former National Guard Chief Petros Tsalikides, a Greek national. The court approved a state prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant against Tsalikides and postponed all proceedings until May 18.

Biosecurity advisory board reverses decision on engineered bird flu papers

03/31/12: The Washington Post reports that two scientific papers that describe experiments with a virulent and contagious bird flu virus should be published in uncensored form, a committee of scientists advising the federal government said Friday. That recommendation by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity reverses one the committee made in January, when it asked two journals to hold off publishing studies about the lab-engineered strains of the H5N1 influenza virus. The about-face came after the heads of the research teams clarified their work and provided new information on its possible importance at a two-day meeting of the committee in Washington.

Lost data may have exposed 800,000 people in California

03/30/12: CBS News reports that a disaster preparedness exercise to ensure California's child support system could be run remotely went smoothly, except for one casualty: the names, Social Security numbers and other private records of about 800,000 adults and children. Four computer storage devices for the California Department of Child Support Services went missing somewhere between Boulder, Colorado, and Sacramento earlier this month while they were in the possession of IBM and Iron Mountain, Inc, the department announced Thursday. 

Homeland Security’s morale is at code red

03/23/12: The Washington Post reports that DHS ranks 31 among 33 large agencies in The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey. “Why Is Employee Morale Low?” asked Thursday’s hearing by the House Homeland Security panel’s subcommittee on oversight, investigations and management. “DHS employees strongly believe in their work and mission,” said Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Tex.). Citing a federal employee survey, he asked: “But what does it say when only 37 percent of DHS employees believe senior leaders motivate them and are satisfied with their senior leaders’ policies and practices?”

Officials use NYC blackout scenario to sell senators on cyber-attack legislation

03/09/12: The Washington Post reports that Senior Obama administration officials walked some 50 US senators through a cyber-attack scenario Wednesday evening to press for pending legislation that would give DHS the authority to force critical industries to better protect their systems. The scenario: a computer attack on the electricity grid in NYC during a summer heat wave. Using PowerPoint graphics, officials explained that the attack is launched by a software virus inserted into the system when an unsuspecting power company employee clicks on an infected attachment in an e-mail — a technique known as “spear phishing.”

Panel says US should rethink nuke emergency plans

03/08/12: CBS News reports that the US should customize emergency plans for each of its 65 nuclear power plants, a change that in some cases could expand the standard 10-mile evacuation zone in place for more than three decades, an expert panel is recommending. That's one of the lessons to emerge in a 40-page report to be released Thursday — three days before the one-year anniversary of Japan's nuclear disaster — from a committee that examined the incident. The panel includes a former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a fellow at an Energy Department laboratory and seven other nuclear scientists.

TSA chief says screeners will keep targeting high-risk travelers

03/06/12: The Washington Times reports that airport security screeners will increasingly focus on high-risk passengers, although unpopular screening measures — like random pat-downs, even for grannies and babies — are likely to continue for the time being, the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said Monday. John Pistole told an audience at the National Press Club that the TSA was using cutting-edge technology and better intelligence to “move away from a one-size-fits-all security model” that treats all passengers as equal risks.